Battling the Heart
by Draconis22
Summary: The Golden Trio have returned to Hogwarts to complete their NEWTS with Hermione as the Head Girl. Drama ensues when Draco Malfoy has been appointed Head Boy and Dumbledore's crazy new house unity scheme is put in play. Can the Trio survive this year? Or can the battles of the heart rival the battles against Voldemort? Review for more uploads! ;)
1. Aboard the Hogwarts Express

**A/N: Hello all! Well, this is my first fanfic (that I'm actually uploading) and I hope you all enjoy it! :D**

**Disclaimer: All rights to the queen herself – J.K. Rowling **

**Chapter 1 – Aboard the Hogwart's Express**

"Goodbye Mrs. Weasley. I'll be sure to come by the Burrow in the holidays, hopefully."

"Oh, dear, that will be lovely! I hope you all have a wonderful term."

We said our goodbyes to Mrs. Weasley, George and Charlie, who still hadn't gone back to Romania. I watched as Harry fumbled with a strap on Ginny's second hand trunk when out of nowhere, Mrs. Weasley engulfed him into a gigantic hug, taking poor Harry completely off guard.

"Oh, do take care, dear," she wailed. Harry's reply was muffled and inaudible as his face was squished into Mrs. Weasley's shoulder. Ginny and I giggled at the sight.

She fussed over the rest of us for a while until the train's warning signal sent us all into frenzies. We hurried to the train, hoping to get an empty compartment, dragging our trunks along.

We got onto the train in the nick of time, just as it began pulling out of the station. As we trudged our way through the narrow aisle, we watched Mrs. Weasley run along-side the train, tears streaming down her face, as she tried catching as many glimpses of her youngest kids as possible.

We found an empty compartment, just as the train began picking up speed, and settled ourselves in for the six hour journey ahead.

"Bloody hell! It's freezing and all I've got is the old sweater mum's given me for Christmas last year." Ron complained, shivering from the chill.

"Warmadrѐ," I muttered swishing my wand around the room. The temperature instantly increased and Ron gave me a sloppy kiss on the cheek as a way of thanks.

We'd been dating ever since the war passed. Initially, I was happy when Ron asked me to the Leaky Cauldron at the beginning of the summer vacation. I know it's not a very fitting place for a first date but, the mere fact that we were together, made me too happy to scrutinize details.

Two months later, though, and I've got to admit that I'm not too glad about the way things have turned out with Ron. There isn't much we have in common. He just wants to talk about Quidditch all the time or snog, while I would really like to have a few actual conversations once in a while.

I looked over at Harry and Ginny, who were looking at each other so intimately, that I felt like we were intruding. As silently as I could, I grabbed Ron's hand and pulled him out into the corridor with me.

"Bloody hell; let's find another compartment before I die of this cold!" I rolled my eyes at Ron's words and couldn't help but think how selfish he is.

We walked in silence for a while and I chose then to gather my thoughts. Ron and I weren't entirely compatible. I don't even know why I like him sometimes! He can be the most selfish boy ever! We don't really have much of an emotional relationship.

My thoughts were interrupted by Ron jerking my hand quickly and pulling me into the cleaning supplies closet near the washroom. I squealed in surprise but he quickly covered my mouth with his and kissed me. My hands found its way to his chest and I shoved him off me. CRASH!

"Ron!" I exclaimed, breathlessly.

His reply was muffled as he tried extracting himself from the mass of rags and mop heads that had fallen on him. He resurfaced, eyes blazing and ears reddening.

"I'm sorry," I squeaked, helping him up.

"The bloody hell was that for?" he spat, glaring at me through the limited light. I almost balked, but caught my wits and narrowed my eyes at him.

"Oh for Merlin's sake, Ron! You think dragging me into a darn supplies closet and slapping your lips on mine is completely romantic, don't you!" I demanded, hands balling into fists. Ron recognized the danger signs and backtracked, immediately.

"But, Hermione," He began in that pleading pathetic tone, "Lavender loved when I surprised her like…" he trailed off at the end and scrambled for the door as my eyes grew wide and I lunged for him. Just as he managed to slam the door open, I flung myself on his back and began clawing at every bare inch of skin I could find.

"HOW. DARE. YOU. ASSOSCIATE. ME. .WITH. THAT. ABSOLUTE. SKANK!" My words were punctured by my attacks.

"AARGH! OW! Oomph. No! Her-"

"WHAT in the BLAZES is going ON here!" screamed Madame Pomfrey as she and Harry grabbed me off Ron. I stood fuming, and glared at the packed corridor. The younger students hurried back into their compartments and a few older ones retreated as well. Madame Pomfrey was tending to the scratches on Ron's face and his bleeding nose.

At the end of the corridor, Draco Malfoy was leaning against the wall and smirking at the mess on Ron's face. Still angry as hell, I was about to scream at him to get lost when he beat me to it.

"You're needed in the prefect's compartment, Granger," he said and walked away.

I took a deep breath trying to calm my nerves and wordlessly marched forward.

The prefect's compartment was already full of all eight prefects and the Head Boy, Malfoy. I inwardly groaned as I realized that I would be sharing a dormitory with the ferret face for the rest of the year.

"Right," he drawled and faced the prefects. "Now that our lovely cool-headed, model Head Girl has decided to grace us with her unfortunate presence, we can commence with the meeting," he announced throwing a smirk at my face.

I glared at him and turned to the prefects, giving them a warming smile. "Congratulations on making the badge," I announced and watched as a few of the tensed shoulders relaxed, just a little bit. "Seeing as how term has not yet officially begun, we haven't received any other instructions from the Headmistress other than that we should be patrolling the train at regular intervals."

I continued giving them instructions and stopped when I heard a loud sigh from the seat next to me. Raising an eyebrow, I turned to see Malfoy with his head propped on his hand and an extremely bored expression on his face.

He flashed me a smirk and stood, lightly pushing me back down on my seat. I fumed as he took over.

"Right, now that your Beaver over here has covered the boring parts, I hope you all abuse your positions and make the most of the privileges of being a prefect. Oh and unless it's Slytherin, feel free to extract as many house points as you'd like, especially from the Gryffindorks. Dismissed!"

By the end of his little 'motivational speech', I wouldn't have been surprised to if my hair was standing on end. The prefects filed out noisily and kept throwing nervous glances back at Malfoy and me.

"Beaver," I whispered dangerously, "creativity lost, Malfoy?" his eyes widened as he recognized the calm before the storm but he recovered quickly, and stood.

"Don't let me hold you up, _Granger_," he emphasized and before I could respond, swept regally from the compartment, leaving me fuming.

Not wanting to return to the compartment with Harry, Ron and Ginny, I wandered towards the front of the train, which was furthest away from their compartment, and patrolled those areas, while trying to calm myself.

I already had a bad feeling about this year. Even though Voldemort was defeated, life still continued and life was a more difficult battle to get through, than Voldemort ever would be.

After an hour or so of aimless wandering, the growing ache in my legs and stomach over ruled my anger and I made my way back to the compartment.

Ron had his head turned towards the window and refused to acknowledge me when I greeted everyone.

"Hey Mione," Hary called glancing nervously between Ron and me.

"Are you hungry? We saved you some food," Ginny said before handing me the pasties and sweets next to her.

"Yeah Gin, thanks," I mumbled before tucking in.

The rest of the journey was spent in wizard's chess and gobstones, albeit the awkwardness since Ron refused to look at any of us.

Needless to say, it was a blessing to finally reach Hogsmeade and the usual mad scramble to get off, made me momentarily forget about Ron and our edgy relationship.

**A/N: Well I know it's a little short but it's more of a prologue so review for more! :D**


	2. The Head's Dormitory

**Here's chapter 2. **

**Chapter 2 – The Head's Dormitory**

I climbed into the thestral-pulled carriage. Harry and Ginny were seated across from me with Ron, red ears and stony face, seated next to me. I glared at him but it would have had the same effect as me glaring at the door since his whole body was inclined towards his window.

"Oh I can't wait for this year!" gushed Ginny. "It's going to be amazing without Voldemort. We can actually focus on what's important for once." She said with a classic eye roll.

I laughed as Harry gave her an incredulous look.

"Yes because defeating Voldemort was not important _at all_ was it?" He raised a challenging brow at her waiting for her response.

I tuned them out then turned towards Ron.

"Ronald?" No answer.

"Ron!" I called jerking his arm.

"What?" he hissed turning towards me.

I was surprised for a second but pursued anyway. Well I would have if he hadn't spoken.

"Hermione, I think it's best if we took a break from this whole relationship thing for a while." He murmured before turning away again.

I was shocked to say the least. It wasn't something I expected to hear from Ron of all people.

Before I could respond, the carriage came to a halt before the doors to the entrance hall and Ron sprang out. Harry and Ginny had missed the entire exchange and were jumping off themselves.

Slightly dazed, I let Harry help me out before falling behind them. Students rushed passed me, all eager to enjoy the welcome feast. My anger had ebbed away and confusion was taking over. Why was I feeling so sullen? Isn't a breakup exactly what I had been hoping for? Perhaps it was because Ron had broken up with _me_ that had me feeling so morose.

I eventually reached the Great Hall and took a seat between Neville and Harry. Ron was sitting with Dean and Seamus and had his back towards me.

"Hermione, you look upset. What happened?" Harry asked as Ginny turned away from her chat with Parvati to listen.

"Err, Ron and I broke up," I whispered fingering my fork.

Harry and Ginny shared a glance that made me realize they had spoken about our relationship between themselves. Oh great! Just perfect isn't it!

I was about to respond when the sorting finished and McGonagall had stood up to speak to us.

"Welcome back to another year at Hogwarts. I trust you all had a restful vacation. Even though the Light side has won the war against Voldemort and his Death Eaters, the road to rebuilding our lives will be a long and windy one. Inter house relations will be greater enforced than ever before to break down the barriers that separate us from one another."

There were murmurs at this throughout the Great Hall and most seemed to agree with this sentiment except for the Slytherins of course. I rolled my eyes at their frowns and head shaking and turned back to McGonagall.

"On a lighter note, I would like to congratulate the Head Boy and Head Girl this year, Mr. Draco Malfoy and Miss Hermione Granger." There was a groan when Malfoy's name was announced from the rest of the school as the Slytherins celebrated but a roar of approval when my name was announced from everyone but the Slytherins. I blushed scarlet and ducked my head until the table banging and cheers had subsided.

After a few more notices McGonagall declared the feast to begin and Hogwart's usual splendor was laid out across the table.

"Hermione, do you think you and Ron will be friends after this? I mean you can't just ignore all that you've been through together can you?" Harry asked as he helped himself to steak and potatoes.

I considered for a moment before answering, "I know Harry but this relationship thing was a really bad idea for us. I mean he and I are on completely different levels of maturity. I'm going to right things between us though." I answered, and began eating.

Harry simply nodded and let the subject drop. I was glad he did. I didn't really want to think about Ron right now.

After an amazing as usual feast, we were all dismissed and the prefects led the houses back to their dormitories. I walked over to McGonagall who had summoned Malfoy and me there.

"You have special privileges as you are aware and will be sharing a dormitory that is located behind the portrait of the sleeping dragon. To enter you will have no password except you must tickle the dragon exactly on its belly. Have a good evening." She said before dismissing us.

Malfoy and I walked in silence for most of the way until, "Don't you think it's ironic, Granger?" Malfoy began.

"That the entrance to our dormitory goes against the motto of the school?" I finished musing at the thought.

He gave me a weird look before agreeing. I was surprised at the civility of our conversation. It was slightly unnerving to be able to speak to the Slytherin Prince without any insults being thrown back and forth. We walked in comfortable silence for the rest of the way.

The dormitory was amazing. The common room was decorated in blue and bronze. Comfy armchairs were positioned on a large ancient looking rug around the fireplace. The walls were decorated with portraits of historical figures of the wizarding world.

However, the farthest wall had an amazing bookshelf. The common room ceiling was three stories high and the shelf ran all the way from floor to ceiling and right across the long wall. This room was heaven.

"Awesome!" I heard Malfoy call from a room through an archway.

"What is?" I asked walking towards the arch.

When I walked in, a bright cheery yellow greeted me from the kitchen cabinets. The tabletops were black granite and immaculate. I looked over at Malfoy who was raiding a cabinet.

"This is certainly awesome," I agreed, opening the other cabinets.

The kitchen was completely stocked with everything we would need if we didn't feel like eating in the Great Hall.

I left the blonde and his newly acquired cookies and made my way over to the staircase with the elaborate gold railing. The door at the top read 'Head Girl – Hermione Granger.' My room was decorated in red and gold with a large canopy bed, a dresser, wardrobe, study desk and my trunk in the corner.

There was another door that led to my personal bathroom. This all felt like some sort of private resort and I couldn't have been more thrilled. My bathroom was white and grey with a tub in the centre and a shower in the corner. I could really get used to these luxuries.

After unpacking my trunk and taking a shower, I made my way out of the dormitory and towards the Gryffindor tower. Signs of the war were still lingering on the corridors. Parts of the ceiling that hadn't been rebuilt yet, walls that still had blasted holes.

The worst kinds of impressions were the ones that were left in our minds though. The horrors of the war had taken its toll on everyone. After the war the Weasley family wasn't the same without Fred around. And George had lost his panache as well, but he was trying, we all were.

My plan had worked and my parents were home safely. The part that hurt though was the fact that their trust in me had deflated a little because of the obliviation. So from then on I had decided never to leave them out of the loop of anything.

When Ron and I began our relationship, I thought that it would be a very positive thing after so much negativity. It was always awkward though, but I refuse to allow our break up to get in the way of such a long and wonderful friendship.

Determined to set things right, I muttered the Gryffindor password and climbed through the hole. Harry and Ron were playing wizard's chess on one of the little tables and Ginny was watching from the arm of Harry's chair.

"Hey guys," I called, walking over to them.

"Hey Mione," Harry and Ginny replied smiling at me.

"Hey," Ron mumbled looking slightly embarrassed. That was a dead giveaway that he had been admonished and I saw Ginny smirk slightly.

"How's the dorm, Mione? Malfoy being a prat as usual?" Harry asked, cringing as one of his pieces were smashed off the board.

"The dorm is amazing!" I gushed, "And no, Malfoy seems err tamed? Well better than he was on the train anyway." I said shaking my head at the thought.

Harry's eyebrows disappeared into his hairline and Ginny was looking deep in thought.

"No mudblood calling and sneering?" Harry asked incredulously.

"No, actually," I responded, thoughtful myself.

"That's really quite strange Mione. I'd keep a close distance if I were you," Harry advised. I watched their game for a few minutes and when Harry's king succumbed, I looked over at Ron who was suddenly looking very nervous. Ginny was glaring at him pointedly and Harry seemed to take a sudden keen interest in one of the smashed chess pieces.

"Well, Harry and I have some, err, work!" Ginny announced, springing upright and grabbing Harry. Harry was shuffling nervously as he glanced between Ron and me from above his glasses. He opened his mouth and was about to say something, but Ginny was dragging him toward the portrait hole. He relented and followed her out with an anxious backwards glance at the two of us.

I looked over at Ron, ears blazing and cheeks flaming. His eyes were trained on the woodwork patterns of the table. I cleared my throat, successfully getting his attention and raised a quizzical brow at him.

Ron sighed, gesturing me to sit across from him. I refused to start this conversation and waited less than patiently for him to get on with it. Eventually, he did.

"Look, Mione, I'm sorry if I've hurt you when we were dating and I'm sorry that I've been a right arse these past couple a weeks." He stopped, glancing at me with a slightly pleading look in his eyes. My expression was still hard and he grew more anxious, waiting for me to soften.

"Ginny got to you didn't she?"

Ron blushed and dropped his gaze, "She might have just told me the truth about how I've been acting recently."

Reaching over, I placed my hand on his arm. He looked up hopefully as a small smile crept onto my face. His answering grin made me laugh a little.

"Of course you're forgiven, Ron. You're my best friend. But you need to figure out a way to deal with the aftermath," I carefully explained. I didn't want to push it or mention Fred's name in case he didn't take to that too calmly.

Ron smiled sadly and stood up to hug me.

"Thanks, Mione. You'll always be my best friend too. I'll try." He murmured against my shoulder.

"That's all we're asking, Ron."

After a game of chess, in which I was pummeled, I bid Ron good night and made my way back to my common room with a slight spring in my step. The hallways were empty since it was just five minutes to curfew. A floor away from the Head's dorm, a sudden crunch of shoe against gravel and a menacing cuss stopped me in my tracks. Wand in hand, I pressed up against the wall and inched forward carefully. The door across the hallway from where I hid was slightly ajar and there was a strange red light emitting from the corner of the room.

The footsteps drew closer and my breathing sped up. Suddenly, a hooded figure came into view and slipped quickly into the room, shutting the door behind him. Treading carefully, I walked closer to the door, and listened for any sounds. A low muttering was coming from the inside of the room. The spell was unfamiliar to me and I listened harder trying to commit the words to memory.

A few moments later, the voice was silent and the slight red glow that was visible through the keyhole vanished. Everything was dark and silent. Fearing that the mysterious person would re-emerge soon, I quickly headed over to the staircase and bolted for the dorm. As the portrait shut behind me, I leaned against it for a second trying to catch my breath and calm my heart rate.

"Everything alright, Granger?"

"Agh!" I yelled, jumping out of my skin.

Malfoy's eyes widened and he stepped back in surprise.

"Uhm, sorry for scaring you?" he was looking at me strangely, as if wondering whether all my bolts were tight.

I regained my composure and breezed past him towards my staircase.

"Night Malfoy," I said shutting my door.

**Hope you all enjoyed this one and please review - Draconis**


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